In the well known classified ad system used in most newspapers, a seller may place an ad offering an item for sale. The ad includes a description of the item, and a phone number or other information permitting a potential buyer to contact the seller. The ad then appears in the classified ad section of one or more editions of the newspaper, indexed according to the nature of the item offered for sale, e.g., real estate, automobile, etc. A potential buyer can read the classified ads in the newspaper, and then contact the sellers of any items that appear to match the buyer's need. This system is used not only for buy-sell transactions, but also for the leasing of real estate, for employment, for services offered, and for miscellaneous other matters.
The problems inherent in the above described classified ad system are well known and, for the most part, are taken for granted. A basic problem is that buyers must often scan a large number of ads to identify a relatively small number of items that may meet their needs. A second problem relates to timing; i.e., by the time that the buyer is able to contact the seller, the item may have already been sold. In addition, if a buyer does not locate a suitable item in a given day's newspaper, the buyer must in general do a complete search of the following day's newspaper, since ads are generally not segregated based upon whether they have been newly placed.
An attempt has been made to address some of the limitations of newspaper classified ads through the use of voice mail systems in which sellers' ads are stored as individual voice mail messages. A separate index is created, the index breaking the voice ads down into categories in a manner similar to the categories used in newspaper classified ads. For example, an ad to sell an automobile might be placed in a category "auto for sale," and perhaps a subcategory indicating the car manufacturer. A buyer calling such a system specifies the categories in which he or she is interested, using touch tones, and then listens to the voice ads in the specified categories.
The basic problem with voice mail classified ad systems is the fact that the voice ads themselves are not searchable. Only the separately created index can be used by a buyer to locate ads meeting specified criteria. Because of the need to create a separate index, there may be a significant delay between when a seller calls an ad into the system, and when a buyer is able to retrieve the ad.